I was browsing through various links today, and ran across a blog by Brian Heys. It was a good find - clean, easy to read, great topics and a detailed About page. I actually found Brian's blog through the PayPerPost database. I didnt choose to take the "opp", but I did subscribe to the feed and read through some of his recent posts.
Of particular interest to me was his recent post about Stumble Upon. It has been mentioned on my forum recently as well, but I hadnt visited the site myself. Mainly because I was warned (with a wink) that it could be incredibly addicting!
That said, StumbleUpon has been steadily rising in the ranks of my website statistics as a heavy referrer, and just this week topped out as the #1 referrer to ClickNewz.com for the month of April so far...
Time to check it out, wouldnt you agree? 😉
It turns out that ClickNewz is in their Database (see ClickNewz on StumbleUpon) and that two users have written personal reviews there on my blog: Michael Brito and Paul O'Brien. Thank you both!
So what is StumbleUpon? It has been ranked one of the top 100 products of the year by PC World, and is being talked about in every major forum at the moment. It is a social bookmarking type site that allows users to search and surf by topic and preference.
Brian Heys mentioned in his post that you can also advertise on StumbleUpon. They also have some cool buttons, tools and plugins that you can use to promote your site on StumbleUpon. You can find those at http://www.stumbleupon.com/buttons.php .
Interestingly, ClickNewz ended up in their database with no doing on my part and they are sending a steady stream of targeted visitors to my blog. Obviously that piques my interest and makes me want to check this out further!
I would be interested to hear your opinions and experiences with StumbleUpon. Had you ever heard of it? Are you in love with it? Do you use it to market your website? We'd love to know!
Best,
Technorati Tags: stumbleupon, stumble upon, social bookmarks, social bookmarking, social networks, social networking, social marketing
About Lynn Terry
I had written this about StumbleUpon in my Blog. I hope it's OK to show it here?
March 21
I am a "New" Stumbler
I can't believe that I installed StumbleUpon, it all started with this article last week; Blog Critics and Reviews in that article I wrote about how my Blog was reviewed after I wrote this article; Words of Inspiration and Ashley Goodale Reviews of myuniquelifespace.spaces.live.com but actually that is a review of my article "Words of Inspiration" because as I am learning how to use StumbleUpon I found out that my Windows Live Space web site isn't listed in StumbleUpon so I did my own review of my site; Reviews of myuniquelifespace.spaces.live.com just to get my site listed to see if I can get more people to review my site. It's all so confusing, now I have to "Learn Something New" again with another type of software.
I was fascinated with all the features of StumbleUpon, I didn't know it has it's own messaging system call PMing and it matches you up with Stumbler's with the same interests as you, pretty cool. I have so much to learn about posting reviews on the site because I am not doing something right. The Links aren't showing up on the reviews but I just started yesterday and I don't know what I am doing, that's nothing new though, maybe I need to use Windows Live Writer to post on the StumbleUpon site. I will have to figure that out while I am Stumbling around the site in the dark. Me saying, "I am a "New" Stumbler."
Thanks for Listening,
Jeff
Link to My Unique Life in Windows Live Space
Hi Jeff, and thanks for adding your thoughts!
My opinion is that we should (all) try to use a new site or service as a USER before we begin using it as a marketing tool. This goes for StumbleUpon, MySpace, Digg, or any similar type of site.
That way we have a sense of how the site works, what type of marketing or networking may work best, and how to avoid stepping on toes.
If you approach StumbleUpon as a user first, I believe that will help give you the best understanding of the site and its potential.
Best,
Lynn Terry
p.s. Jeff - I was reading your blog today, and enjoyed it! I had a comment on one of your recent entries, which I found quite interesting. But it turns out I have to sign up for a Windows Live account in order to leave you a comment.
If you should happen back by here and see this, feel free to send me an email. I believe you'll find my address on the About page (link at the top).
I received an error when I sent you this Email so I thought I would post it here, I hope that’s OK?
Hi Lynn,
Thank you for stopping by and reading my Blog. And what a nice thing to say, that you enjoyed it! (I am blushing) I am always interested in comments and would appreciate the feed back. It seems that most people, whether out of not wanting to take the time or just not caring to comment, never leave any comments.
Although I know that it’s a problem here at my Windows Live Space Blog with the sign in, I have my Email address posted at the top of my web page, in hopes of receiving comments. I am look forward to hearing what you have to say and I appreciate you taking the time to put the P.S. on your site for me.
Best regards,
Jeff
Also, relevant to your question about what people think of StumbleUpon, have seen this page? http://www.stumbleupon.com/testimonials.html
Oh no - I hope my email account is not acting up. I actually didnt notice your email address or I would have contacted you directly.
I do think that the sign-in request is probably the reason you dont see many comments at your blog. Personally, I like the free commenting systems that even allow anonymous comments. It encourages more participation.
At any rate, I was interested in your post about "making blogging hard" and enough so that I believe I will post a separate entry here to respond to that.
Thanks for the link too, I'll check that out!
Best,
Lynn Terry